Chapter 1- Sugar

"Welcome to Retriever High!" A lot of dogs have said that to me as I walked down the hall.

I sighed as my backpack fell off my back, AGAIN, and picked up my books.

A Jack Russel Terrier walked up to me and laughed. "Your books fail you again? Let me help you" she said in a sweet voice. She helped me get my books into my bag, then took the zipper in her teeth and zipped it up. "You must be Sugar, the new golden retriever. I'm Popsicle, but you can just call me Popsi."

I smiled down at Popsi, and then ran to my next class. But when I got there, I remembered that I left my backpack in the hall. Stupid me I thought.

I then turned around to get my backpack, in the crowd, being the new girl, embarrassing myself. But then I see Popsi, wagging her tail madly, with my bag in her jaws.

I took it from her, put the bag on my back, opened the door, and sat down at my seat.

Everyone looked at me as I took out my geography book and turned to page 379. "The History of the Dog" the title read. I've read this a million times. I read it through, closed the book with my nose, and then put it away.

The bell rang after that. "Miss Sugar, would you please come here?" I grabbed my stuff and walked over to Mr. Miylo.

"Yes?" I answered.

"You are very smart, being the new girl here at Retriever High School. Where did you say you moved from?"

"I have come from Oklahoma, sir. My old school was Mustang Junior High."

Mr. Miylo nodded, then shooed me off to eat lunch.

I went to my locker and put my books away, then ran to the lunchroom. There were TONS of dogs, all big or small. There were even other kinds of animals there, too.

I took a seat at a table with a couple bags. I put my bag down on an empty seat, and then went to the back of the lunch line.

About 10 minutes passed by until I got my meal and sat down. When I got there I saw that 3 dogs had sat down right across from me.

"Hello there, mate!" The dog on the far left said. "Are you the 'new girl' everyone's been talkin' 'bout?"

I nodded, and then realized that dog was Australian.

"Do you have any friends?" The middle dog asked.

"I only have one. Her name is Popsi." I replied. I took a bite of my Beneful, then took a pizza scrap and chewed on it.

"Popsi's the kindest dog you'll ever meet." The dog on the far right said.

I smiled at them and continued to eat. I wonder if they are like me, the one who always gets left out of things. "So you guys get left out of things, correct?" I asked the trio.

The middle dog answered me. "We don't get basically any cheering at P.E. when we are performing our dance routine or something else. We always have to be around each other, elsewhere we don't have much to do."

I nodded. "I'm like that, too. Since I am the new girl, nobody asks me to join in on their soccer game or to throw a stone as far as I could. I usually just sit alone on the side of the exercises equipment at playtime."

The left dog shook his head, and then perked up a little. "Hey, maybe you could join our group! That way, you would have friends to play with, and you wouldn't be alone!" The dog was almost bouncing in his seat about the idea.

I smiled and agreed. I'm in a group that actually cares about me. The dogs and I soon finished our meal.

"What do you love to do?" the right dog asked.

"I love to dance. Especially hip-hop moves."

"AWESOME! I LOVE TO DANCE TOO!" the middle dog yelled. Amazingly, since it was so loud; nobody seemed to hear her.

I laughed. "Maybe if a dance competition comes up, we could all be a group, and we could all do a dance so spectacular that everyone would be cheering for us!"

The middle dog perked up. "But don't get your hopes up."